What happens in your scene? Out line the basic events.
In 2.2, Macbeth has just killed the king, and because of his guilt, he cannot calm down. He is starting to feel anxious, which foreshadows how much he would be traumatized as the story progresses. Here, he is talking to Lady Macbeth right after the murder.
What do you think are the key purposes of your scene? In other words, what is this scene important?
I think the key purpose of the scene is to reflect the couple's anxiety at the killing. It also shows Macbeth's sincere guilt, a sign that he is anguished and regretful. The passage, in addition, is aimed at showing the overwhelming influence of Lady Macbeth on Macbeth and her actual innate feeling of anxiety and horror, which is a direct contrast to what she seems to show on the outside.
What are your reactions to this scene?
It is not actually a surprise but more of sympathy, for Macbeth had always been hesitant of killing the king and had been greatly influenced by Lady Macbeth. To witness that one's desire for power has to be paid by guilt and the life of another makes me sad. Thus, since everyone had anticipated this consequence, I am not surprised.
Scene Analysis
What does your character want in this scene (this is the obejctive)?
Lady Macbeth wants to ensure that they (Macbeth and Lady Macbeth) have covered their tracks well enough for no one to suspect that they had been the murderers and also wants to prevent Macbeth from feeling guilty about the horrible deed he had committed.
What is your character's motivation for doing what he or she does?
The first motivation is to feel relief herself. In the scene, she mentions that unless Macbeth stops blaming himself for the murder, both he and she would go mad in the end. Thus, it is to stay calm and stay away from guilt that can engulf the person's conscience.
What obstacles stand in his or her way?
I think the obstacle would be Macbeth. In this scene, Macbeth is infinitely sorry for his action and wants things to undo themselves. His continuation of self-blame and regret
What happens when your character confronts these obstacles?
She uses very contrasting methods to overcome Macbeth's guilt; at times, she consoles him that it is indeed not a bad deed and that he still has a pure heart. However, most of the times, she confronts him by mocking that it was he who had killed the king and that his heart is too pure, like that of a lamb.
Are there any distinctive elements in your character's way of speaking? (Is his or her language elaborate, plain, musical, or what?)
I think in the scene, she is very elaborate when murmuring to herself or wondering about things whereas she tends to sound very curt when Macbeth returns after killing the king. It shows that she has more than a single manner of speaking and acting, making her personality more interesting to find out along the way.
What is your character thinking during the scene (this is the subtext)? (How does he or she react to other characters and events?)
She is very anxious indeed. Because of the many happenings that are taking place inside the palace, Lady Macbeth is all the more anxious that their plan would be ruined and that Macbeth would have failed to kill the king probably because of his innocence. In fact, in the first part, there is a whole paragraph of Lady Macbeth talking to herself about it. When she realizes that Macbeth has failed to leave the daggers in the murder scene, she gets angry and regretful. Thus, she is definitely not given the luxury to be calm in this scene.
Self Evaluation
1. Evaluate the performance of your group. What went well? What didn’t go well?
I think all of us were pretty satisfied with the performance, primarily because all of us had put in equal effort and had performed as we had planned. What went well is that the delivery of the lines were clear, and we managed to draw some laughter from the audience. I think what had gone wrong, meanwhile, was the dead time between the first Lady Macbeth and the second Lady Macbeth. We had originally planned for both the Lady Macbeths to dress in black, but later decided that it would be better for the two to wear the same costumes. Thus, there was a considerably long dead time in changing the costumes. 2. How well did you contribute to your group?
I thought of putting the performance in a modern version and thought that during the play, I was able to be serious enough to act well as Lady Macbeth. Also, the best contribution that I thought I gave to my group was being able to cooperate with them. 3. How well did you perform as an individual? I tried hard to reflect Lady Macbeth in the scene as realistically as possible. Though acting drunk was hard, I thought I was able to use small but significant props like the beer bottle, an all black costume with night sleepers to accurately show the context.
4. What could have improved your scene performance? As both a group and as an individual, I thought we could have used more props to make the scene more suitable. Also, because there was a number of small, minute props like slippers, I thought the audience was not able to relate well to these props. We could have also planned better such that there was no dead time between changing of the characters.
5. How did the scene performance help you better understand the play.
Since I had to act as Lady Macbeth, it allowed me to look at things, the current happenings from Lady Macbeth's perspectives. This was really important to better understanding the play since I could feel for the character and examine the context and background better than as a reader.
2.2 Lady Macbeth
Character ReportScene Analysis
Self Evaluation
1. Evaluate the performance of your group. What went well? What didn’t go well?
I think all of us were pretty satisfied with the performance, primarily because all of us had put in equal effort and had performed as we had planned. What went well is that the delivery of the lines were clear, and we managed to draw some laughter from the audience. I think what had gone wrong, meanwhile, was the dead time between the first Lady Macbeth and the second Lady Macbeth. We had originally planned for both the Lady Macbeths to dress in black, but later decided that it would be better for the two to wear the same costumes. Thus, there was a considerably long dead time in changing the costumes.
2. How well did you contribute to your group?
I thought of putting the performance in a modern version and thought that during the play, I was able to be serious enough to act well as Lady Macbeth. Also, the best contribution that I thought I gave to my group was being able to cooperate with them.
3. How well did you perform as an individual?
I tried hard to reflect Lady Macbeth in the scene as realistically as possible. Though acting drunk was hard, I thought I was able to use small but significant props like the beer bottle, an all black costume with night sleepers to accurately show the context.
4. What could have improved your scene performance?
As both a group and as an individual, I thought we could have used more props to make the scene more suitable. Also, because there was a number of small, minute props like slippers, I thought the audience was not able to relate well to these props. We could have also planned better such that there was no dead time between changing of the characters.
5. How did the scene performance help you better understand the play.
Since I had to act as Lady Macbeth, it allowed me to look at things, the current happenings from Lady Macbeth's perspectives. This was really important to better understanding the play since I could feel for the character and examine the context and background better than as a reader.